Food Tests

Year 10 students have been investigating the carbohydrate, fat and protein content of different foods in Science lessons.

To do so, they embarked on a series of tests to identify the main food groups in a variety of samples such as olive oil, milk, cheese and potato.

A few drops of iodine added to a sample in a test tube, for example, turned it from red-brown to blue-black to indicate the presence of starch. The inclusion of ethanol made the solution cloudy if fats were present, while the girls used the Benedict’s test to detect simple sugars.

These practical experiments with reagent agents helped students become better acquainted with the biological molecules in food.